Reviews
A Heritage of Nonsense:
Jim Garrison's Tales of Mystery and Imagination
In the late 1960s, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison spoon-fed the public scenario upon scenario of implausible JFK assassination conspiracy theories, many of which have been adopted by well-known Warren Commission critics. Using actual evidence, clear reasoning, and common sense, Fred Litwin masterfully debunks many of the more popular vignettes of Garrison's theories. A Heritage of Nonsense is a must-read for anyone who wants to be properly informed.
Robert A. Wagner, author of JFK Assassinated: In the Courtroom: Debating the Critic Research Community
For anyone harbouring lingering doubts that Garrison was a deluded charlatan, this book nails that coffin shut tight. With a strong commitment to first-hand testimony and primary source analysis, Fred Litwin is the highest form of amateur investigator writing about the Kennedy assassination, setting the record straight against the leading peddlers of conspiracist nonsense. Fred’s meticulous research, his compassion for the victims of shameless witch hunts, and his low tolerance for paranoid hogwash, make him a formidable opponent to anyone who places their ego and ideology ahead of clear facts and sound logic.
Michel Jacques Gagné, Author of Thinking Critically About the Kennedy Assassination, and host of the Paranoid Planet podcast.
No reasonable person can possibly take any of Jim Garrison's conspiracy theories seriously after reading this book. Good job, Fred Litwin!
David Von Pein, Author of Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Warren Report and Lee Harvey Oswald's Guilt and Motive 50 Years on [with Mel Ayton]
Litwin exposes JFK assassination absurdities the way The Amazing Randi exposed spoon bending illusionists. His latest is a necessary source book illuminating an abomination in US history where a libel was cloaked in an enthralling conspiracy theory. Litwin challenges us to ask ourselves: do we want the truth or to believe what feels more exotic than the truth?
Eric Dezenhall, author of Wiseguys and the White House and Best of Enemies [with Gus Russo]
Oliver Stone's Film Flam:
The Demagogue of Dealey Plaza
As long as Oliver Stone is out there peddling his arrant nonsense about the Kennedy assassination, Fred Litwin will be on the case. His latest exposé on the ‘Demagogue of Dealey Plaza’ is a Herculean effort in the war against unreason.
James Kirchick, author of Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
Fantasy becomes fact if essential evidence is omitted or misstated. Assassination researcher Fred Litwin unveils in Oliver Stone's Film-Flam how the master filmmaker has again misled the public. If you see the film, you should read the book.
Judge Burt W. Griffin, Retired, Assistant Counsel, President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy [Warren Commission]
In preparation for hosting Oliver Stone on my podcast, I watched his four-part four-hour documentary series JFK: Destiny Betrayed … twice. I thought I was prepared, but there are so many details in Stone’s account of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that no matter what I said Stone had another “but what about…?” What I needed was Fred Litwin’s new book, Oliver Stone’s Film-Flam, which dissects the major claims made in the film and shows them to be mistaken, exaggerated, misquoted, misunderstood, misrepresented, or taken out of context. The devil is in the details and Litwin has done the heavy lifting necessary to counter conspiracisms’ demagoguery. Everyone interested in the JFK assassination story should read this book and thank Fred Litwin for his tireless work.
Michael Shermer, Founder of Skeptic Magazine and Author of Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational
Nearly 60 years after JFK's assassination, questions still abound over whether suspected killer Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, or even at all. But conspiracy theories are not facts. Fred Litwin's book Oliver Stone's Film-Flam firmly undermines some of the loudest theorists of the day in point-by-point factual rebuttals in an effort to accurately preserve the integrity of this historic tragedy. While some readers' minds may not be completely persuaded as to exactly what did or did not happen in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963, every reader of this book should conclude that simply being a loud conspiracy critic does not turn fiction into fact.
Mark S. Zaid, National Security Attorney
I have followed Fred Litwin's research and writings for some time, especially his work on the Jim Garrison case against Clay Shaw. He is a superb researcher, marshals his facts carefully, and presents very thoughtful conclusions. Anyone trying to refute him on even an individual point had best come well prepared.
Don Carpenter, Author of Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw
On the Trail of Delusion
Jim Garrison: The Great Accuser
"This book is a perfect example of good reporting -- something too often elusive in the scores of books about the JFK horror story. Scores have manufactured what they called "evidence of conspiracy," have benefited by falsifying facts and manufacturing their own "truth." This book is REAL! I lived every minute of it."
Hugh Aynesworth, Author of November 22, 1963: Witness to History and JFK: Breaking the News
“On the Trail of Delusion is nothing less than a masterclass on the craft of investigative writing. Brimming with new details about the toxic “Garrison investigation,” the lunatic “Permindex” conspiracy theory, and other JFK-related nonsense, Fred Litwin’s book is a must-read for all history buffs. On top of everything else, it’s wonderfully written and lavishly illustrated. Highest recommendation.”
Gus Russo, Author of Brothers in Arms [with Stephen Molton] and The Outfit
“Garrison must have something, I assumed - wrongly - from 1967 until the collapse of his case in 1969. Fred Litwin has dug up documents that show Garrison’s investigation was nothing like his revisionist memoir On the Trail of the Assassins or Oliver Stone’s hagiographic film JFK."
Paul Hoch, First-Generation Warren Commission Critic
"Fred Litwin has conducted his own after-crash review of the Garrison investigation, pinpointing where it went wrong at every step. He has carefully studied the record, and pulls no punches in this fascinating book."
Dr. Larry Haapanen, Professor at Lewis-Clark State College, Idaho, Former Researcher for the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book, and West-Coast Investigator for Jim Garrison
"New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison fed a fable to the American people about President Kennedy’s assassination. Filmmaker Oliver Stone encouraged Americans to believe it. With On the Trail of Delusion, author Fred Litwin exposes Garrison’s attempt to deceive his countrymen as blatant fraud.”
Anthony Summers, Author of Not in Your Lifetime: The Defining Book on the J.F.K. Assassination and A Matter of Honor: Pearl Harbor: Betrayal, Blame, and a Family's Quest for Justice
"If you want to find the real story about the claims Jim Garrison made about the assassination of JFK, don't look to the movie by Oliver Stone, read Litwin's Delusion. Uniquely, he doesn't tell you what to believe, he gives you the evidence that speaks for itself."
G. Robert Blakey, Former Chief Counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations
"Fred Litwin has written a book that will be warmly welcomed by anyone who enjoys cold war era history and even long-time students of the Garrison saga will find fresh material here. Novices to the case will no doubt be shocked by the homophobia in both Garrison’s original investigation and Stone’s film and by Prouty and Stone’s anti-Semitic remarks. Undeniably, all but the most credulous Garrison acolytes will be appalled by the demonstrable miscarriage of justice against Clay Shaw and others documented by Litwin in this fine book."
"This careful deconstruction of Jim Garrison and what Litwin describes as his “scam prosecution” is thoroughly persuasive and satisfying. It serves not only as a fast and entertaining read about the pitfalls of looking for buried truths in the JFK assassination, but also as a clarion warning of the dangers of excessive and unchecked power in the office of any prosecutor. On the Trail of Delusion has moved to the top of my “recommended” list as an antidote to Oliver Stone’s portrayal of Garrison as a dedicated truth-seeker. After finishing On the Trail of Delusion, most readers are likely to conclude that the only person who should have been charged and imprisoned as a result of Garrison’s investigation was Jim Garrison himself."
Gerald Posner, Author of Cased Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK